4 MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR 82, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



lookout guard makes it easier by telling us that this stand of timber 

 is capable of producing more than 2,000,000 railroad ties every 

 year, perpetually, or half again as many as are needed for annual 

 replacements on the Union Pacific Railroad. From this amount of 

 wood, 4,000 modern frame bungalows could be built. It is worth 

 $10,000,000 on the stump. 



FIRE PREVENTION 



" It will burn, too, if we give it a chance. My job," says the 

 lookout man, " is to see and report smokes that indicate fire. Know- 

 ing the country, I can locate them pretty closely — better than if I 

 had to depend on map and fire finder alone. Rangers are always on 

 a hair trigger for fire during the dry season. It is important to 

 know where the mills, camps, and railroad tracks are, in order to 

 avoid false alarms. This is especially worth while, for it takes 

 more time to make a run in the timber than it does in town. A good 

 telephone system insures quick communication, and a large force 

 of volunteer cooperators guarantees protection for nearly every acre. 

 Our cooperators fill a place no salaried organization could fill. Of 

 course they are paid for the time actually spent on fires." 



For every ranger district there is a fire-fighting organization, 

 which functions in much the same way as a volunteer fire depart- 

 ment in a small town. The details of this organization are fully 

 set forth on the fire-organization chart, posted by the telephone in 

 every ranger station. On the chart is a list of the cooperators; 

 each assigned the role for which he is best fitted — foreman, truck- 

 man, cook, axman. Each one knows his place, his responsibility, 

 and his rate of pay. In every community there are a few men desig- 

 nated as keyman, who take the responsibility of receiving fire re- 

 ports in the ranger's absence and of organizing crews and handling 

 fires until relieved by some forest officer. The general public may 

 not realize what the faithful work of these men means, but many a 

 serious disaster has been averted by their timely action. The care- 

 lessness of the tourist or camper seems doubly contemptible in com- 

 parison with these heroic efforts. 



Caches of fire tools are kept at ranger stations, at settlements, and 

 in the conspicuous red boxes along the roads and trails, always 

 ready for use at a moment's notice. 



Every member of the forest force spends a great deal of time in 

 perfecting fire-fighting plans and the fire-fighting organization, and 

 in keeping tools and equipment in first-class shape for immediate 

 use. In addition to reducing fire hazard through educational work, 

 they take the initiative in fire-hazard studies and in the construction 

 of fire-prevention improvements, which include a large mileage of 

 telephone lines and trails. 



Scattered about the forest are many summer cabins and camps. 

 The cool nights and bright, warm days of summer in the Snowy 

 Range draw many visitors who like to fish and hike and be out-of- 

 doors. The unusual accessibility of this range, together with its 

 resorts and near-by ranches, makes it a popular summer place. 

 During the summer there are also many men in the forest tending 

 herds of cattle and sheep. 



